1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to protective covers, specifically to a protective cover for a golf bag, including its golf clubs, towel, and other accessories and objects.
2. Description of Prior Art
Heretofore, golfers have not been able to obtain any practical and inexpensive rain and protective cover for golf equipment which is carried in a bag during play.
While there are covers for traveling which enclose an entire bag and clubs, these covers do not provide access to the clubs during play unless the golfer completely removes the cover.
Some bags, not all, have built in snaps around the top of the bag. These provide a snap-on cover, usually with a zipper, to gain access from the side. Again, this feature is primarily to contain the clubs in the bag during travel. This cover is not practical to use in the rain because to identify and get clubs in and out is awkward and slow. U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,451 to Duba (1976) shows a cover of the type just described. Duba attached a cover to the snap-on cover, making access to the clubs no less awkward than before.
A large and growing number of light carry bags do not have any type of cover to protect the clubs and accessories during play in wet conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,648 to Sessler (1975), 1,562,030 to Lawrence (1925), 3,059,681 to Lorbeski (1962), 256,293 to Edwards (1980), and 2,749,958 to Innes (1956) are examples of prior-art covers that require some combination of cumbersome parts, fasteners, precision fittings, rigid supports, new toolings, or specialized manufacturing procedures. These covers would be quite expensive and cumbersome for the average golfer to use on a light carry bag.
In addition to being too expensive, most prior-art covers fail to provide certain practical essentials for a good rain cover. The following few, but not inclusive, examples will summarize these failings.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,794 to Erickson (1961) shows a cover which contains rigid rim members which are unsatisfactory for storage in a golf bag; thus user will not be able to obtain the cover quickly when needed. U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,563 to Henrich (1955) shows a cover which has fasteners that require a relatively long time to assemble in a sudden rain burst.
Bags today have the upper end of the carry strap fixed at the very top of the bag. In observation of this fact, regarding U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,004 to Very (1988), the belt binding Very's cover to the bag would also bind a portion of the strap, causing unbalanced carrying. U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,133 to Whitlow (1980) shows a cover which binds to the bag and top end of the strap with an elastic bottom. Whitlow's cover would tend to be pushed off the bag when the top of the strap is tauted for carrying. Whitlow's cover also makes access to the clubs awkward due to the tubular sleeve length and small opening of the cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,579 to Brick (1985) shows a cover with an elastic bottom. When this bottom is partially removed from the rim of the bag for club access, the elastic will tend to contract, thereby obstructing club removal. Therefore the cover must be completely removed for club access, a procedure which is slow and awkward. As regards U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,164 to Pilney and Wood (1987), access to return of the clubs is clumsy, especially when one needs access to the particular club enclosed in the elastic sock.
Finally, certain prior-art covers would not fit, without changes, many bags manufactured today. U.S. Pat. No. 3,521,689 to Woods, Jr. (1970) is an example of this. Other covers afford protection primarily only to scuffing and nicking, especially wooden head clubs. U.S. Pat. No. 2,925,840 to Hird (1960) and 3,985,171 to Summers (1976) are examples of such covers.